You probably learned this between 3rd or 4th to 7th or 8th grade. I think my geology came in 5th? But that's probably because everything I remember happening in science class happened in 5th grade in my memory. And that's because we learned about orbitals in science class. I don't know why they didn't teach us that the orbitals were merely an approximation to a much more awesomer theory of electron clouds.

Oh wait. Yeah. So, instead of the lecture where that probably should've happened, we had an hour of our semi-abusive science teacher telling us how we would've had to kill lots more Japs if we invaded than we did with the nuclear bombs dropped over civilian populations. (This was before my 5th grade self knew that our oil embargo had essentially dismantled the Japanese war machine or that the Japanese had already pleaded for a conditional [note: not unconditional] surrender.) We also listened to him tell us about how we should never tell anyone about our invention ideas before filing for a patent. He had several patents pending, and no, he would not tell us what they were about.

So yeah. Sometimes I wish I were a geologist. (Then I remember the chemistry involved … which brings me back to my senses.)

-- P.S. We definitely learned about rocks in 5th grade because I definitely remember learning about rocks and a basic scale for hardness in 5th grade. Finger nails are the least hard. Diamonds are the hardest. Scratching determines relative hardness. Hardness != Brittleness.

Sat, Oct. 1st, 2011, 11:06 am

Sat, Aug. 27th, 2011, 08:45 pm

damn you zombie_dog, because of you I feel more and more like I oughtta have a tumblr. I don't *want* a tumblr, but I can't keep track of all these awesome people by hand. …maybe rss … but that's not quite right either. grr.

…The overwhelming majority of old-earth, or old-universe arguments are fallacious because they are based on faulty, unbiblical initial conditions. For example, by assuming that the universe began with no size, or that the solar system formed from a nebula, and then extrapolating how long it would take to reach its present state, of course one is bound to reach a faulty age estimate that is inflated by a factor of millions. Old-universe supporters frequently make such mistakes. They have arbitrarily assumed unbiblical initial conditions, and then use the resulting inflated age estimate to argue that the Bible is wrong. But, of course, this simply begs the question.…

Folk. ’Cause it might be the most varied: rap is, jazz is, country is, punk rock is, et c. is folk music. I would be sad to lose concert music though. I wouldn't be sad to lose the rap that isn’t folk music, the punk rock that isn’t folk music, et c. I think that I would also lose electronic music (’cause you can’t sing along to it), though, with suitable stretching of definitions, perhaps I could have some electronic music back?